PESHAWAR, May 29: The Pakistan Railways is working on a plan to expand the facilities at its Peshawar station and dry port to meet the volume of Afghan Transit Trade and to supplement the reconstruction of Afghanistan in a better way.

Chalking out the modules of the expansion project, the railways authorities, however, ruled out repair and restoration of the 40km-long Peshawar-Landi Kotal track, constructed during the British era.

“Under the present circumstances, the renovation of the Peshawar-Landi Kotal line is impossible,” an official of the Pakistan Railways told Dawn here on Wednesday.

The official said that technically and financially it was not feasible to repair the track, which is occasionally used for running Safari train from the Peshawar Cantt station to Landi Kotal.

Under the proposed extension plan, additional sheds would be constructed at the Peshawar dry port and Cantt station to provide increased storage capacity at the port.

The railways authorities have prepared PC-1 of the project to improve the terminal facilities, including loading, unloading and line extension, at the Peshawar dry port and City railway station. The estimated cost of the project is over Rs30 million, official sources said.

PR Divisional Superintendent Syed Gulrez Hashmey told Dawn that work on the proposed project was likely to start during the next financial year. He said that under the project the storage capacity of the Peshawar dry port would be increased from 21 wagons to 60 wagons. Besides, he said, the PR would construct another dry port at Chaman (Balochistan).

Pakistan is the only country which provides transit facilities to the land-locked Afghanistan. The volume of the transit trade is put at more than $1,200 million annually.

As the reconstruction phase of the war-ravaged country is about to start, the PR expects that the volume of the trade between the two countries would enhance further. To meet this growing demand, the railways is working on a plan according to which the railways would provide transit facilities from the Karachi Port to Peshawar and other destinations in Balochistan. The goods would be transported onward by the National Logistics Cell.